Love works in mysterious ways
by Lucky Puppy
Summary: Mysterious murders are happening in Seattle and Max is hot on the trail, but something happens just as she catches the criminal. Will she have to risk her life to save the love of her life? Or will she let her loved one die? M/L! Please R
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, they all belong to James Cameron's Dark Angel, of course! (Although I wish I could, coz the show shouldn't have stopped after the 2nd season!!!)  
  
Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so please R&R!!!  
  
~This story is based after the virus is cured. That's probably the only thing I based my story on from the show. The other stuff, I made it up, besides the objects the characters use in the story like the Ninja and the Aztec. It isn't set in a certain time period, I'll explain later the whole situation better when I actually have a better understanding of the story myself!~  
  
Chapter 1  
  
'AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!' a short, sharp, piercing scream shattered the stillness of the air.  
  
Max woke up from her cat nap, the hairs at the back of her neck stood up as she made her way closer to the sound. She had come to an intersection and peeped around the corner, just enough to see a lone figure crouched up in a tight ball mumbling strange words as if gone mad. Max cautiously crept towards the figure.  
  
'This must be the 5th girl I've rescued in the past few weeks. This is getting even more stranger by the minute.' thought Max.  
  
The figure was a little girl, about 12 to 13 years old and had mattered hair. She wore a ragged cloth over her body and her feet had lots of blisters. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets and there were tearstains on her dirty face. There were recent scars on her face which were bleeding and a big chunk of flesh on her right arm had been burnt off. Max winced at the thought of the pain and slowly crept in to comfort the girl, the girl started mumbling strange words and was obviously scared. Somehow, Max was able to carry the girl out of the sewers and take her to Logan's apartment in a matter of minutes to join the other four girls she found just a few weeks back. There was definitely something strange going on and Max had to ask Logan about it.  
  
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"So, what do you think?"  
  
Max was in Logan's apartment, leaning on the desk in the study area. Logan was sitting at the desk, typing ferociously away on the keyboard. As soon as Max had arrived at Logan's place, Logan had taken out the first-aid kit and fixed up the scars and burns, only the ones that he could do. Max called up Dr Carr and the Doctor soon had the girls arm in a bandage. They had tucked the girl in bed, with the other four girls Max had found, in the guest room.  
  
"Huh?" said Logan slowly looking up into Max's brown eyes trying to put the most innocent face on as if he hadn't heard a word she was saying, but really, he was all ears.  
  
"As I was saying." said Max, annoyed that Logan hadn't listened to her, "don't you think it's strange that I've happened to find 5 stray girls in the sewers in the past few weeks? I mean, its not everyday you bump into this sort of coincidence. Do you think that there's something going on out there," Max waved her hand towards the window meaning the city, "that we don't know of? Maybe we should question these girls and see if they have anything related to each other."  
  
"I don't know. Don't you remember that these girls have gone mad and can't exactly speak proper English?"  
  
"Maybe there's something out there scaring them? I found the girl just then because I heard a scream. Maybe someone or something is out there on the loose picking specific girls around the same age?"  
  
"Maybe" Logan mumbled, deep in thought and typing on his computer again.  
  
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Logan couldn't think, not now. Not as long as Max was in the same room as him. He was sweating very heavily and was covering up his nervousness by typing stuff on the computer. Every time he looked at her, he felt this weird tingling sensation that he'd never felt before. He thought this was because he hadn't been going out that often so he dismissed it off his mind.  
  
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Max walked off into the kitchen wondering what was wrong with Logan. Was it stress? Logan usually wasn't this uptight. The only time she ever remembered when he was uptight was when they had found a temporary cure for the disease she once had and was sad because they had wasted their precious time kicking butt rather than 'getting busy' as Joshua would have put it. Max decided to make some dinner for both of them. Though she knew she was a hopeless cook, she also knew that this would amuse Logan very much. She set to work getting the cucumbers and tomato out of the fridge and started chopping them very slowly and steady.  
  
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Max had just finished the salad she had just made and some mashed potatoes when Logan walked in with his exo-skeleton on. They both got a shock. Firstly, Max hadn't expected Logan to come in just yet and Logan had thought Max had left his apartment ages ago and was going to fix himself a light dinner. But seeing Max standing behind the bench top with a knife in one hand a chopping board in the other topped up with a flowery apron tied around her waist and her hair tied up into a messy bun on top of her head to get her hair out of the way, all Logan could do was stand there and laugh. Slowly Max couldn't help but laugh too as she realised what a sight she must be to him. Logan had never seen Max in this get up before. She only ever wore tight black leggings and a tight black jacket, which she wore at night or her Jam Pony outfit consisting of a tight blue three- quarter legging, a black jacket and a cap put back to front on her head.  
  
"Want some salad? I know it may not be that good but at least I tried." asked Max, holding out the salad bowl with a small grin on her face.  
  
"Mmmm." mumbled Logan as he picked out a cucumber and popped it into his mouth.  
  
"Here, try some mashed potatoes. Don't blame me if they taste a bit weird."  
  
As both Logan and Max sat down and ate their salad and mashed potatoes, there was a crash in the guest room. Both Logan and Max had totally forgotten about the five girls who were meant to be sleeping in the guest room.  
  
They both rushed inside to see the whole room a mess, but no sign of the girls anywhere  
  
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"Where could they be?" asked Logan frustrated, "Why would they even want to run away from us when we were the ones that gave them an actual bed to sleep in! It's just so impolite to do this!"  
  
Logan and Max had cleaned up the mess, after trying top find any sort of clue like a message or just anything that would tell them why or where they had left. They were now in the study area with Logan sitting at his desk and Max leaning against the table. Logan was hacking into the police system for any sign of five girls on the escape.  
  
"By the way, why were you in the sewers when you heard the 'calls of a damsel in distress'!" asked Logan, adding the figure of speech in to lighten the tense atmosphere.  
  
"I was just, you know, walking about.getting some fresh air"  
  
"In the sewers?"  
  
There was a brief uncomfortable pause as neither of them spoke.  
  
"Uh huh!" pronounced Logan proudly, "Five girls around the age of 12 have been seen in sector 5 around.there!" He points at a flashing red dot on a map of sector 5.  
  
Before Logan could turn around and tell Max to be careful, as always, she was already off on her Ninja racing down the streets to sector 5.  
  
"Gone to save more damsels in distress!" mumbled Logan as he turned back around and faced the computer screen with a picture of Max in a beautiful red velvet dress with a scooped neck and her hair in a fancy bun with a few strands of wavy hair, that had escaped, dangling in front of her face. There was also a tiara placed just on top of her head and to Logan, she never looked even more prettier than that.  
  
Logan had never shown anyone or told anyone how or where he got that picture from, but he always kept it open under his documents on screen so that no one knew. 


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Thanx to all of those that reviewed the first chapter! I really appreciate it! Hopefully this story is much better! I improved it from the comments I received! ^_^ And hopefully it's easier to read now that I've tried to space out my paragraphs! Hopefully the spaces show up, coz it didn't on the first chapter! And last but not least.PLEASE R&R!!! I NEED THE TIPS!!! ^_^  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Jam Pony Messenger" said Max as she showed her sector pass to the guards.  
  
"OK," grunted one of the guards as he waved Max through and went on with the next person in line.  
  
Max zoomed off on her Ninja, using her eyesight to see in dark places and far off places for any sign of the 5 girls.  
  
"They could be anywhere!" moaned Max for any clue of them at least. She still had Alec's mobile phone in her pack so she quickly rang Logan for any clue of the whereabouts of the 5 girls.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Hey Logan, I need some clue on where the girls might be."  
  
"Wait a sec, let me see if there are anymore recent sightings of them.here we go, they were last seen at 24 Hepburn road, sector 5."  
  
Max had hung up as soon as Logan told her the address. She zoomed off and skidded to a halt in front of the building.  
  
"So much for the goodbye!" mumbled Logan as he got back to work on his computer.  
  
Max left her Ninja at the front of the building and crept inside while putting her yellow sunnies back into her pack. She found herself in a long corridor with graffiti all over the walls. There was mould on the corners of the wall and ceiling and you could see wallpaper flaking off. There was an occasional echo of a drip heard every few seconds. The whole atmosphere gave you a sickening feeling and Max grimaced while she walked to the end of the corridor where there was a door leading into a big auditorium. Max stepped into the room and somehow smelt death nearby. She walked on towards the end of the room where the stage was and saw something lying on the ground. She took a closer look and grimaced at the sight. She called Logan up to tell him about it but only reached his answering machine so she left a message.  
  
"Logan, look, I think I know what happened to one of the girls. She's right in front of me. It's gross, something's been at her. I can't stand the sight of it so I'm just gonna get out of here. Meet me at Joshua's place coz I haven't see him today. Bye"  
  
Max crept out of the building after taking deep breaths of 'fresh' air outside, then zoomed off to Joshua's house, hoping that Logan was there.  
  
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Logan was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, obviously waiting for someone. He was reading a Magazine, which had the heading 'how to impress a certain crush of yours!'  
  
"Mr, you can go in now" said a nurse at the counter to Logan.  
  
Logan thanked her and hurried into room 205.  
  
"Who are you?" said the woman in bed.  
  
"Hi, I'm Logan Cale. I couldn't help but see you in hospital after I read the news this morning. I believe you were attacked by a monster, am I right?"  
  
"Oh no! Not again, if you're one of those raving reporters who want every single detail of what happened yet change the whole story around, I don't see the point. Why don't you guys make the whole story up then!"  
  
"I think you've got me wrong! I'm not a reporter, I'm just interested about what happened. I don't quite believe what reporters write about on newspapers. So the articles that I'm interested in, I search them up myself to get a better understanding." Logan smiled at the lady as he said this.  
  
"Well, if you say so, I was walking down an ally way when I saw a little girl in rags sobbing. She looked like she lost her family or mother so I went and comforted her then next thing I know, I was attacked by a big, ummm, I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it was very hairy. It had green eyes and big fangs and growled like this" The lady imitated a dog growl when angry, "and I saw a barcode, at the back of its neck. Then I fell unconscious and next thing I know, I was here." The Lady smiled at Logan as he wrote all of this down. "I dunno what the newspaper says, but that's all I can remember, hope it helps.with ummm.yeah."  
  
Logan said he's thanks and walked out of the room. He didn't know what was going on, but somehow, this creature had to be linked with the girls. He hoped that Max would have already found them and had taken them back to his apartment.  
  
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Max had been waiting at Joshua's place for a long time. She was wondering where Logan was if he wasn't at his apartment. Maybe he was meeting someone or going out for some fresh air. Maybe he had finally gotten over his fear of heights and decided to go to the space needle. It was a bit far-fetched but Max couldn't help but wonder.  
  
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Logan had arrived, surprised that Max wasn't there with the girls.  
  
"Oh well, she might still be searching for them" thought Logan to himself.  
  
He hung his coat on the coat hanger beside the front door, placed the car keys on the kitchen table and strode into his study area, he noticed he had a message on the answering machine. He played it and the same sickening feeling Max had felt when she found the girl came to Logan.  
  
"Someone's just so cruel to even do this!" explained Logan with pure hatred, "They're only little girls! What have they done to this world do deserve this horrid punishment, nothing!"  
  
But Logan knew he had no right to conclude that the girls hadn't done anything. For one thing, they might have done something to deserve this torture, but for another thing, Logan might be right and the killer was a cruel cold-blooded murderer.  
  
As Logan said this, he grabbed his coat and car keys again and headed outside to his Aztec.  
  
5 minutes later, he arrived at Joshua's place and saw Max sleeping on the couch. "She must have dozed off after waiting for me," he thought. Max had her legs slumped over the side of the coach and her head rested on her right arm, which dangled over the other side of the couch. Her hair was out of place and a strain had fallen across her face. It moved with the breeze of her breath and she stirred for a moment to get a comfortable position. Logan couldn't help but see how pretty she was and took a ragged blanket of Joshua's and placed it on top of Max. He sat down on the other chair just as Joshua entered the room with a reasonably loud growl as soon as he saw Logan sitting next to Max.  
  
"Shhh! You'll wake her up," whispered Logan.  
  
Joshua growled a little bit and went on with his painting in the corner.  
  
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Soon enough, Max woke up from her slumber only to find Logan staring at her. Her cheeks turned a deep red and she sat up properly, roughly folding the blanket Logan had put on her.  
  
"I thought you transgenics don't sleep!" asked Logan  
  
"Well, we do sleep sometimes, its not like we don't sleep at all!"  
  
"Ummm, I came here about an hour ago and found you asleep so, I've been waiting for you to wake up. Didn't want to disturb your beauty rest!" exclaimed Logan with a grin.  
  
"Oh, well, ummm.I only found one girl at the address you gave me. I was too late to save her though," said Max feeling guilty at that moment.  
  
"I think I might have a clue on who the killer is. On the newspaper, there was an attack on a civilian, but she wasn't killed, just injured really badly. She was protecting a little girl just like those 5 you found the last few weeks! She said she was attacked by a transgenic, Max. I didn't know how to break this to you when I first heard it." Said Logan matter of factly.  
  
It was as if Max's heart had stopped pounding.  
  
"It's all my fault! I was the one that let those transgenics out into this world and now it seems that they're going to haunt me for the rest of my life!" said Max, feeling gloomier by the minute. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: (This is my first story so I don't know whether I should write another disclaimer, oh well) I don't own these characters! They all belong to James Cameron's Dark Angel!  
  
Author's note: Thanx again for all those reviews everyone gave! It really does inspires a person to continue on writing (or in other cases, typing)! Plus, I think I know now what's gonna happen at the end of the story thanks to a book called Dragonlinks by Paul Collins. For those who have read it already, my idea isn't even close to the basic plot of the story, but anyway. Please R&R Thanx! ^_^  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"Hey Max! You know where Joshua is?" asked Alec as soon as he walked in and saw Max and Logan sitting on the chairs.  
  
"He just went to the kitchen to do something. I think he went to get more paints for his painting."  
  
"Oh right, thanks!" Alec waved his hand and headed off to the kitchen.  
  
"You know, its not really you're fault you let them out into this world. You couldn't help it, manticore was already on fire, what else could you do? Watch your fellow transgenics die? I would have done the same thing as you!" said Logan, trying really hard to comfort Max.  
  
"Yeah, I suppose your right! Well, we still have a transgenic to catch!" said Max and with that, she walked out of the house, jumped on her Ninja and was off.  
  
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"JOSHUA!!! JOSHUA!!!" Alec called out helplessly.  
  
He couldn't find Joshua anywhere. He had checked the kitchen, the basement and the rest of the rooms in the house, though there weren't many.  
  
"Geez, where could dogboy be? Hiding? He isn't exactly hiding material!" exclaimed Alec to himself.  
  
"Looking for someone, Alec?" asked Logan from behind as he leaned against the door frame, then realised it was dirty and stood up straight again while brushing off any dirt on his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah! I'm looking for Joshua actually. You know where he went? Anything? I need him for something, you know, an errand."  
  
"If your going to ask him to go outside into the public, you know he won't do it because Max gave him strict orders to stay inside at all costs! And you know that Joshua knows why that's so! Anyway, what kind of errand?" asked Logan, wondering whether it was a Jam Pony errand or something else.  
  
"Oh, you know, private stuff. It's confidential!"  
  
"Oh, I see! Well, I'd better be off than. Bye!"  
  
Logan had walked out of the house and was about to hop into his Aztec when he had an idea. He crept round the back of the house and peered through one of the windows. Though it was a bit hard to peer through, Logan managed to see what was going on inside. Alec was rummaging around the kitchen looking for something. Finally after a few minutes, he stood up, holding a weird mechanism like a trophy. It was shaped like scissors, but instead of having two straight blades for cutting, it had two sharp rings so that if you put a carrot in the middle of the two rings and pressed the handles together, the carrot would snap in half. Logan couldn't believe it, but that had to be the weapon that was used on those girls. He only just remembered it, but all of the girls had a curious red cut that resembled a ring around their little finger of their left hand. He didn't think it was that important so he had dismissed it off is thoughts. There was definitely something weird happening, Alec couldn't possibly be the killer, but he did have a barcode on the back of his neck and that did prove something. But he also didn't growl like a dog, unless this was one of Alec's lame jokes.  
  
Logan was about to creep back to his Aztec when he fell into a ditch nearby. Alec heard him from inside and rushed outside to find Logan on the ground. Alec was so angry with Logan for spying on him that he dragged Logan of the ground and chucked him a few metres until Logan reached the barrier fence on the other side of the yard. Alec than walked off and disappeared into the house, which was followed by the sound of a motorbike zooming off.  
  
"Wow! Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today!" mumbled Logan as he got up and started adjusting his neck.  
  
He started walking across the yard to his Aztec and drove off wondering what had gotten into Alec that made him so angry.  
  
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That night, Max had had a bad dream. In the Morning, she woke up, got out of bed and walked into the kitchen of her apartment only to see Original Cindy making coffee for both of them.  
  
"Hey Boo! Sleep well?" asked OC in her nightgown as she sat down, tucking one of legs under her thigh, on the couch and cupping her mug to keep her hands warm.  
  
Max mumbled something that sounded a lot like "anymorecoffeleftforme?" and grabbed cup sitting on the bench. She then walked over to where OC was sitting and sat opposite her on the couch while sipping some of the coffee.  
  
"Hey Boo, what's up?" asked OC, obviously worried for Max's sake.  
  
"Oh, I had a weird dream last night. It was about Manticore, but the whole place was different. It was less high tech and there was only about 10 people there including me. I was one of those lab people and we were working on an experiment called Triple Energy X. The experiment was a normal human being, which looked a lot like me. But it was really powerful and could take down a whole army of men, well that was what it was built to do. I don't know, but somehow, the dream seemed sort of, you know.real, I guess." Exclaimed Max  
  
"You know what, I think you've had enough time trying to save the world and its getting into your head that if there's just one slight little problem, you have to go in and fix the whole situation up. How about, tonight we have some fun at Crash with Sketchy and Alec. Play some pool maybe, get your mind off this whole responsibility for once. What do you think?" asked OC  
  
"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Said Max and walked to her room to get ready for work.  
  
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"Bip Bip Bip! Get back to work people! Finally, you're on time for once, Max! Something wrong with you?" asked Normal as Max entered Jam Pony.  
  
"Oh, I had a lonely night last night which made me think about some stuff, and I thought, I feel sorry for Normal, having to wake up early and all and trying to save the world from not receiving their mail. So I decided to help you out, you know be here early so that people are able to get their mail in the morning. It must be such a hard work to be the head of this whole company!" exclaimed Max trying hard not to laugh and at the same time trying to be serious.  
  
"Strange girl!" exclaimed Normal as he bit into his peanut butter sandwich and went on pestering others to hurry up.  
  
"What's up with my Boo!" asked OC when Max arrived at her Locker.  
  
"Decided it was time to get Normal on the right track about me!" said Max.  
  
"Well, I must say, you did quite a good job!" exclaimed OC as they both laughed knowing that Max had failed the 'attempt' of trying to get Normal to look at her in a different light.  
  
They both set back to work delivering messages and by the end of the day, they were both tired from delivering so many packages in one day.  
  
"You know what?" asked OC  
  
"What?" asked Max  
  
"That's probably the most time I've ever laid eyes on the same package in one day!" replied OC  
  
They both laughed because during their run, they both got their packages mixed up and kept on giving people the wrong packages ending up with many complaints and the same packages again.  
  
"Hello ladies! Ready to be beaten in pool by me and my apprentice when we meet up again at Crash tonight?" Alec asked as his head popped around the lockers with his arm around Sketchy's neck, who had a massive grin on his face.  
  
"You bet!" said OC with an expression on her face saying quite clearly that she didn't tolerate with lower class like them.  
  
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Both OC and Max where playing pool against Alec and Sketchy for $100. Alec and Sketchy were winning so far by only a small margin and both were clearly having tons of fun, flirting with all the girls that walked past.  
  
"You know what, at the end of the day, when we win the $100, I'm gonna take my share of the prize and drink more beer till I can't drink anymore!" slurred Sketchy, getting drunker by the minute.  
  
"Hey, Sketch my boy, I don't think that's quite a good idea." said Alec as he patted Sketchy on the back and popped the last black ball in.  
  
"Thank you ladies!" said Alec as he bowed to OC and Max and grabbed the $100 giving $50 to Sketchy and strolled off.  
  
"Well, that wasn't fair was it? We didn't even get a go! That hog just stole the money!" cried OC obviously infuriated by what just happened.  
  
"Don't worry about it OC, its just $100. Besides, I feel like going now. I'll see you back at the apartment, OK?" asked Max  
  
"Yeah, See Ya!"  
  
Max walked out of Crash and was just about to hop on her Ninja and zoom off into the night when she noticed something move at the end of the alley way. She decided to leave her Ninja and have a look on what might be there. She crept slowly and was able to hear a low growling sound mixed in with some muffled screams. There was a huge figure crouching over a tiny one and something was going on between them. She managed to get a better look and saw that the tiny figure was crying and had recent scars on her. She looked like one of those 5 girls she had saved and sensed that the girl was in trouble. She went in to help the poor girl, grabbing the huge figure and chucking over to the other side of the alley. She walked towards him and gave some high kicks to the huge figure's head and some hard punches to the stomach. She stopped, waiting for her opponent to get up, but as her opponent raised his head, she froze. She couldn't believe what she saw. This couldn't be right!  
  
"Joshua, is that you?" asked Max. 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Thanx for all those reviews people gave (Besides those weird Reviews. :S)! Sorry I haven't been able to post this chapter soon enough, I haven't had time to finish it, with homework and all plus I burnt my whole left hand, so it takes a very long time to type with just one hand. But now, here it is! I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to my friends Ninjix and Mags (that's their pen names on fanfiction.net) who helped me finish this chapter and give me the idea of the whole 'Ames White' section. Please R&R (  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"I don't know what to do! I'm stuck Logan! I need help here! Tell me something reassuring!" cried Max for the first time, seeking help from Logan, knowing he would be willing to help.  
  
"Like what?" asked Logan, holding Max in his arms and comforting her as best he could.  
  
"I don't know! Tell me that everything will be OK!"  
  
"OK.Everything will be OK!"  
  
"Liar!" said Max softly, waiting to hear what Logan would say or do but all Logan did was smile and kiss Max gently on the forehead. As soon as Logan did this, Max pulled away. She had let her defences drop and she hadn't noticed. Something was definitely wrong about her. She raced out of Logan's apartment, quickly grabbing her jacket off the coat hanger, and raced off on her Ninja, cursing herself as she rode down streets and alleyways of Seattle.  
  
She stopped in front of Joshua's place just to ask him a few questions like, why did he do it? Or what made him do something this cruel, wasn't the love that she gave him enough?  
  
As Max stepped into Joshua's place, Max got a fright. The whole place was in a mess, chairs tumbled over and right in the middle was Joshua, huddled in a tight ball, mumbling strange words. Max quickly hurried over to where Joshua was and tried desperately to comfort him, not knowing what made him feel this way.  
  
"Joshua didn't mean to do anything to little fella!" exclaimed Joshua.  
  
"Oh yes he did!" retorted a voice from behind.  
  
Max whirled around. When she saw who it was she gave a yell of fury and launched herself at him. Ames White dodged and grabbed her arms, yanking them behind her back.  
  
"My, my. You are getting slow 452" he sneered as she struggled furiously.  
  
Max twisted and got one arm out. White cursed and whipped out a gun attempting to shoot, but she managed to give a high kick and the gun was flung to the opposite wall. White was still holding her very tightly around her wrists when a gun suddenly appeared in his hand.  
  
"Always carry a spare!" exclaimed White and he thumped her on the head with the butt of the gun. Max slipped to the floor, dazed.  
  
Joshua stood up slowly, "leave her alone!" he said dully.  
  
White spat at Joshua and started dragging Max to the door.  
  
Joshua sprang up and yelled again, "Leave her alone! Take me instead!"  
  
Max's head snapped up. "No! Josh! No!" she yelled, her eyes diluted with horror. "I'll be fine. He'll kill you if he takes you"  
  
"No Max. No. He'll kill you too!"  
  
Max shook her head slowly and smiled at Josh. He blinked and she was gone.  
  
Max was wrapped up and taken to a white van. She only caught a little glimpse of it before her eyes were bound tight with a piece of white cloth. She was roughly handled and dumped in the back of the van and driven to an empty warehouse. She was tied very tightly to a metal chair and her blindfold was taken off. She sat there staring around her, trying to figure out where she was, besides the fact that she was inside an empty warehouse. That was when she saw Ames White walking slowly towards her.  
  
"So.you've found out! Huh? About time too. I was wondering what you were up to! Smooching up to your boyfriend.what's his name? Logan Cale, that's it!" said White menacingly.  
  
"He's not my boyfriend!" said Max, half-heartedly, not sure whether it was true or not. She did like him, but she didn't know how much.  
  
"There's a lot of conviction in your voice, that's for sure!" replied White sarcastically.  
  
"What do you want from me?" asked Max eager to change the subject. Just thinking about Logan was just breaking her heart. She couldn't stand not being with him, but she also couldn't stand being so close to him. She didn't know why this was so as nothing was standing in between their relationship like the virus had. But the virus was long gone. She needed to have some time to think her relationship through.  
  
"What I want.from you, is highly confidential information that I believe you have," said White slowly. He wanted to make sure Max had heard him properly and was not muddling up his words.  
  
"Even if I did have information, I wouldn't give it to you! Not in a million years!" said Max, spitting as she did so.  
  
"Well, aren't you a very stubborn girl!" said White with a snarl, grinning maliciously, "You know, there is a price to pay for stubbornness, and I believe at the end, you might not be able to talk again, nor see!"  
  
"I don't care what you do to me!" said Max making her mind up that she will not give any information to White what so ever, though in truth, she had absolutely no idea what White was talking about.  
  
Just then, Max had an idea, she was going to make a deal. She'd exchange White's so called 'highly confidential information' for her freedom.  
  
"How about a deal?" asked Max.  
  
"Like what?" asked White curious, wondering whether this was a trick or not.  
  
"I'll tell you the highly confidential information that I supposedly have and you give me back my freedom!" replied Max hastily.  
  
"O.K.You tell me the information I need and then I'll set you free." Said White.  
  
"I prefer to tell you the information when I'm free, not chained up like this," said Max reasonably, indicating the fact that she was chained up in the chair.  
  
White had no other option other than unchaining her. But he made sure she wasn't able to escape because he planned that after she told him the information he needed, he was going to chain her up again.  
  
"Thank you, now, the information I promised you. I'm so sorry White, but I've got bad news for you! But, I don't have the information you need!" said Max with a smirk on her face.  
  
At that same moment a long thick rope fell from the railing just below the ceiling and Max grabbed on and quickly climbed up. Some of White's men started climbing the rope after her, but as soon as Max reached the top, the rope fell down along with White's men. She and Alec quickly ran to a window and the end of the railing and clung on to a make-shift flying fox, connecting to the building opposite, another empty warehouse, but most obviously safer, and flew to the other side. When they at last landed in the opposite building, Max saw Logan standing inside, just in front of his Aztec. He was grinning widely and Max ran up to him and gave him a big hug.  
  
"Thanx a lot you guys!" said Max sincerely, "I really was in trouble, didn't know how to get out, but when I saw Alec waving at me from above, well, it raised my hopes high up."  
  
"Oh, you know, it's my duty and all, saving damsels in distress and all!" remarked Alec, being cheeky as usual.  
  
Logan just stood there, leaning against the Aztec staring straight at Max. Never saying a word. His thoughts were about Max and he couldn't help smiling. Max turned and caught Logan smiling and staring at her. She blushed and remembered the time when she woke up finding out the Logan had been staring at her the whole time. She brushed the thought away and quickly headed to the Aztec.  
  
"We'd better go now, they'd be over here before we'd even left," said max.  
  
They quickly jumped into the Aztec and raced off.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
"How's my Boo?" asked OC as she entered the apartment and getting her own cup of coffee for herself.  
  
Max was sitting on the couch, staring out to space with a steaming warm mug in her hands. Max didn't answer OC, she obviously didn't hear her and was thinking of something else. OC went and sat next to Max, waving her hand up and down in front of Max, wondering what she was thinking about.  
  
"Hello? Anyone in there?" asked OC  
  
Max quickly snapped out of her day dream and blushed to a deep red. She had been thinking about Logan. Was there anything happening between them? She hoped so.  
  
"Huh?" asked Max  
  
"You seemed to be day dreaming about something," said OC nudging Max's shoulder gently, "thinking of someone in particular?"  
  
"Oh! OC! I just can't get him out of my head! There's something going on between us but I just don't know what!" said Max frustrated  
  
"It seems you and him need to have a little talk!" said OC helpfully.  
  
"I want to talk to him, but I just can't build up the courage to do so. OC, I've never felt this way before. I used to be able to go to his penthouse and there was nothing to it, but now, I can't." said Max breaking off her sentence.  
  
"Just go to his penthouse and pretend its for business reasons." Said OC  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Oh come on! You're my Boo! Who says my Boo can't do something as simple as that!"  
  
"O.K"  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
Logan was sitting in his seat doing some Eyes Only business when Max appeared leaning on the doorframe. She was grinning broadly when Logan turned around.  
  
"Oh no! She's in heat again!" thought Logan as he stared at her, "But she does look kind of hot!"  
  
"Hey!" said Max. She walked over to him and leaned over him, looking at the screen.  
  
Logan looked up and saw Max on top of him. He resisted trying to touch her and the longing to push her hair away from her face. He was wondering why Max had come over. Maybe she had heard what had happened.  
  
"So you heard," said Logan.  
  
"Heard what?" asked Max  
  
"You don't know?"  
  
"No.what about?"  
  
"About Joshua."  
  
"JOSHUA!!! What happened to him?" asked Max in surprise standing up quickly and staring right at Logan's eyes wondering.  
  
"He's disappeared."  
  
"WHAT!!!" 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
Max raced straight to Joshua's house, hoping that Joshua would be there. But, like what Logan had said, he wasn't and there was no note. Usually Joshua wouldn't leave for no good reason and if it was for a reason, he knew that he wasn't allowed outside because as it was said, 'People are not used to anything that is different'  
  
Max was about to get a mental breakdown. If anything bad happened to Joshua, she would be to blame because she was the one that sent Joshua out into this world in the first place. She was the one that burned Manticore down.  
  
"Relax Max, think clearly, don't rush into any conclusions. Now, firstly, search around the place. There might be some clues lying around," said Max to herself as she slowly crept around the room looking for some clues.  
  
For an hour, she searched around Joshua's house but unfortunately, there were no clues left behind. The only definite clue was that Joshua was missing. And there was no clear reason why. The only clear reason so far on why Joshua was missing is that he was kidnapped. And the most likely person to kidnap Joshua was.Ames White.  
  
As soon as Max realised this, she decided to ring Logan to tell him what she thought. She still had Alec's mobile with her and she felt guilty that she still hadn't returned it to him. She could hear Logan's phone ringing on the other side, but there was no answer. The answering machine went on after three rings and she could hear Logan's voice talking on the machine. She left a quick message, wondering where Logan was because usually Logan was in at this time and since he knew that Max was going to search Joshua's place, he would have stayed at his apartment, waiting for her call.  
  
All of a sudden, Max had a thought that maybe Logan was kidnapped too! "What if Ames White was taking all the people that she loved the most. What if Logan was already dead? What if he was being tortured right at this minute. What if." Max thought. But she quickly dismissed her thoughts realising that she was racing to conclusion again. She decided to race to Logan's house, reassuring herself on the way that Logan would be OK and that he wasn't able to pick up the phone in time because he was lifting waits or something.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
Max stepped into Logan's apartment. The whole place was a wreck and Max had a sickening feeling in her stomach. She walked around the place and went into the study where the exo-skeleton was lying flat down, broken. That was when she saw a note lying on the desk, scribbled carelessly, but obviously Logan's handwriting. She picked it up and it read, 'If you want to see me again, come to the warehouse at sector 6. Bring $1,000,000 with you.' Then, beneath the note, hidden carefully so Max would be the only one to see was a tiny note, again in Logan's handwriting, 'In a few minutes time, White would come over and take me somewhere. I searched up where Joshua was last seen and they've taken him to a warehouse. Don't follow.' The letter stopped, this was obviously when White had bombarded into Logan's penthouse and taken him hostage.  
  
All of sudden, Max felt strangely alone. She was genetically engineered soldier with all these abilities, yet she was unable to save Logan, or keep him safe. She started to blame herself for not taking care of Logan more carefully and for not telling him what she felt about him. He could be dead right now, and it would be her fault.  
  
"Why is everything my fault!" said Max to herself.  
  
She collapsed into Logan's chair and took Logan's jumper that was lying draped over the back of the chair. She held it close to her, and smelt it, which brought tears to her eyes as she remembered Logan's smell. She slowly cried herself to sleep in the study.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
Max woke up with a cramp in her back. She was in an awkward position on the chair and had somehow half fallen off so that her legs were on the chair but the rest of her body was lying on the floor. She checked the clock and saw that she had slept for 4 hours.  
  
"That's unusual," said Max, "I must be coming down with something to have fallen asleep for 4 hours."  
  
She stood up, Logan's jumper still on her, took the jumper and realised what had happened. Logan was still missing and she hadn't gone to him for 4 hours. She hoped against hope that she wasn't too late and raced off on her ninja to sector 6 to the warehouse.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
She had arrived at the warehouse and had decided to put Logan's jumper on. At that moment, she wanted to be close to Logan, and the jumper was the only source of him available.  
  
She climbed to the roof of the warehouse and peeped down where she saw Joshua and Logan, back to back, tied to chairs, bound and gagged. Some of White's men were patrolling around the outside of the warehouse and others were guarding Logan and Joshua. White was no where to be seen.  
  
Max jumped down from the railing and landed on the ground very quietly. Anyone else who would have tried that jump would have been dead. She was leaning behind two huge wooden crates and just beyond was 3 guards and Logan and Joshua. She reckoned she could take 3 guards out, no big deal to it. The moment of surprise would also aid in her attack, plus the fact that the guards were lazy and smoking cocaine and looking at Magazines of naked women.  
  
Max leapt out from behind the crates and grabbed one guard from behind, and before he could yell out, she had snapped his neck in half. The other guards looked up and saw Max standing there with their fellow guard lying at her feet. They yelped in surprise and was trying to grab their guns and raise them to shoot but Max had disappeared. She had run behind them and before they knew it she had bashed them in the head, kicked them in the stomach and shot them with a silent rifle in just one go.  
  
Max ran towards Logan and Joshua and unbound them, hugging them furiously then stepped back telling Joshua to carry Logan out of the place. Just as she said that, two guards ran in to change their positions. But all they saw was three guards on the floor with Max standing behind. They took their guns out and started shooting but Max had zoomed passed them, tripping one guard over and knocking the other unconscious. She ran out of the building just as White came in with other guards from the other side. One look in the warehouse explained everything and White was furious, but he knew when to stop.  
  
Max had run around the side and reached her Ninja where Joshua and Logan were, hidden behind some crates. They had found her bike and were waiting for her. They managed to fit three people on the ninja and zoomed off to Joshua's place, the closest house they knew.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
"I think I'll need to get new security when I get back. Don't want to let the same thing happen again," said Logan, staring at Max the whole time since they came to Joshua's house. He was sitting in the couch and couldn't move because his exo-skeleton was back at his penthouse, broken.  
  
"Yeah!" replied Max  
  
"Thanks for saving Joshua and I. We really appreciate it."  
  
"Was nothing,"  
  
"By the way, do you want to tell me why you're wearing my jumper?"  
  
Max looked down and saw she was wearing Logan's jumper. Besides the rip on the side, it was OK. She couldn't believe that she had actually forgotten she had put it on. And she didn't' want to tell Logan the real reason why she had put his jumper on.  
  
"I was cold!" said Max, and she gave Logan back her jumper, sneaking a quick smell to remember Logan's smell by.  
  
"Come on lets go, we better get back before anything disastrous happens. Oh and JOSHUA!!! You going to be OK here buddy?" said Max  
  
"Yeah!" yelled Joshua from the kitchen.  
  
"OK! Take care big fella!" yelled Max and she left, carrying Logan to her ninja.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
"You going to be OK here?" asked Max to Logan as soon as he got beck into the exo-skeleton in his penthouse, "I mean, do you need any help cleaning up the mess? I could do with something to do at least."  
  
"No, its OK," said Logan walking Max to the lift door. He didn't want Max around for just the time being. Having her see him useless was unbearable. He wanted to be the strong one, the one that took care of her, not the other way around, "I'll be able to clean up by myself, anyway, I've got some stuff to do and I need to be alone for that."  
  
The lift door shut behind her and she was going to press the ground level button. But she realised that she had to tell Logan right now otherwise it would be too late. So instead, she pressed the 'open' sign and the door opened, only to see Logan still standing in front of the lift. He hadn't left. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment, then Max stepped into the apartment.  
  
"I couldn't leave, not just yet. Not before I have to tell you something," said Max  
  
"I was just about to call you back, because I also need to tell you something,"  
  
"Good, well, you go first!"  
  
"No, you, you asked first,"  
  
"No, I insist,"  
  
"Do you want some coffee? Then we could sit down and talk?"  
  
"Sure!"  
  
"White or Black coffee?"  
  
"White thanks! Oh, and I usually have it with one teaspoon of sugar,"  
  
"OK! Make yourself comfortable in the messy living room; I'll be with you in a second!"  
  
Both Logan and Max were treating each other as if they were guests and hadn't known each other for a long time. If there were some else who had known them for a long time and was looking on to their conversation would have found out that something unusually was happening.  
  
"Here you go, White coffee with one teaspoon of sugar!" said Logan, handing over the steaming mug.  
  
They both sat down on the couch, after putting it over the right way up and just stared into thin air, not saying a word. The tension between them was growing stronger by the minute and fortunately, Logan was the first to break it.  
  
"So.what did you want to talk to me about?"  
  
"Ummm." replied Max hesitantly, not sure how she was supposed to tell him, "You know how I was wearing your jumper in the warehouse."  
  
"Yes, you said you were cold."  
  
"Yeah, and you know when you were kidnapped."  
  
"How couldn't I know."  
  
"Well, the thing is, when you were gone, I felt terribly alone. And I missed you a lot, even though you were only gone for about a few hours. I missed you a lot. And when I saw your room all messed up, I was scared that you had been kidnapped and killed. I took your jumper and cuddled it and cried myself to sleep. I slept for 4 hours. Quite unusual really, I think I must be coming down with something. I haven't slept for that long for a long time. Maybe you could get one of the doctors to check me."  
  
"Max." said Logan, butting in, trying to get Max to get back to what she was saying.  
  
"Oh, yes.well, the whole thing was that when you were gone, I had time to think about stuff and that was when I realised something."  
  
"Realised what?"  
  
"That I wouldn't be able to live if you were gone. I'd be a nobody if you had just left me. And the really scary truth is that.I love you!"  
  
Logan was speechless. He was so happy, because he loved her too and the whole time he was scared that she didn't love him back, but now he knew.  
  
"I love you too Max! I've loved you ever since I laid eyes on you!"  
  
Max couldn't help but cry and she cuddled up into Logan's arms and looked up, giving him a warm kiss and smiling. She had never been so happy before in her whole life and now she was snuggled up towards the man that she loved, Logan Cale.  
  
THE END  
  
Author's Note: Hope you like the story. I know its quite obvious that Logan and Max ended up together and all, but I like happy endings! What's wrong with that? I'm happy with my first story I've written, hoping to write another story soon! ( Please Review! Thanx! 


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